Moving On

Ok I'm going to make an effort to start blogging more consistently.  I realized even if no one else is interested in what we're up to it's kind-of fun to look back at.

So since I last blogged about a billion little things have happened- Here are the highlights

* Todd received a great job offer from Apache Corp.

* I quit my job and have taken on the official role of housewife

* We celebrated our 10th anniversary

* Todd finished his Masters and will never have to go back to school again

* Joseph turned 3 

* We moved to Midland, TX and are getting into the swing of things

Todd is loving his job so far and we actually don't even mind living in Midland...... yet.  We already knew the layout of the town and had an idea what there is to do in the area since we had lived here last summer while Todd did an internship.

We'll live in this area for 3-5 years and then the company will give Todd options of places to move us.  We've moved enough now that I've realized even though the actual move is a pain, overall I love moving.  

 I love being home with Joe and I love having time to work out, clean, cook dinner, ext.  I just need to keep myself in check, no one is perfect and trying to chase that illusion will only drive me crazy.  And I'd have to say one of the best things about Joe being out of daycare is that he hasn't been sick in months, whereas before it seemed like he was always sick.

I'm doing my best to keep Joe socialized and learning so he doesn't miss out on the benefits of daycare/ preschool.  Every week we go to Storytime at the library, try to visit a park, and once or twice go swimming.  I also recently joined a mommies group and this week we went to the bounce house.  We even got him signed up to play soccer next month.  

Even though he's old enough to do preschool I'm not ready to put him in.  I've looked into the basic preschool lessons and feel like I can keep him on track if I focus on a little each day.  I even bought him a little work book last week and he's started practicing writing letters/ numbers- I honestly didn't expect much from him yet but he's already getting the idea and loves it!

Mom came up to watch Joe so we could celebrate our 10th anniversary

For fathers day we went camping to Llano, TX

Our haul.  Todd had a blow out in the Uhaul about 30 minutes away from our destination

Little hail storm while fishing up Fairview Canyon

Waking Up

Every once in a great while I get this feeling like I'm mentally waking up.  You know what I mean like the majority of the time your just doing your day to day functions, not necessarily a bad thing just mindless.  I know that part of this was brought about from my birthday. Every birthday seems to snap something in me.
This year was a great birthday, nothing exceptional had happened at the time but there is so much to look forward to in the coming years and I know the harder times have helped me appreciate things I could have never recognized without them.
Part of my present this year was getting a whole day of Todds time.  He is in his last stretch of school, final semester, and finishing up his thesis.  We are so excited that after 7 years of full time school, not counting my schooling, we can officially get on with life!!! 

Here are some pics of our day out at the Gila Cliff Dwellings

He informed me that he didn't need gloves because he could put his hands in his pockets.

One of the Rangers warned us that it was muddy and I might get my "nice white tennis shoes dirty".  I wasn't worried about it but Todd went and grabbed our hiking boots anyway.  Of course the mud was Joe's favorite part of the whole trip.

If you ask Joe will strike a pose for you

We had brought the backpack to carry Joe in but he was happy to hike the entire 1.25 miles